Starco - A New Life AU
by Sir-Spoder
Summary: What if Star was never a Mewman, instead just your typical high school teenage girl? How would her love and friendship with her best friend Marco Diaz play out?
1. A New Life

The new school year had just emerged from around the corner, and Marco intended for it to be a good one. The boy had meticulously planned out every step of the way with a complicated but surefire formula. A formula to his life here at Echo Creek Academy. The numbers could not lie, he told himself. And it was true. Numbers were as absolute as the Word.

The only problem was his equation was incomplete, because he never accounted for the possibility of an exchange student from a far distant land being dropped into his life out of nowhere.

Enter Star Butterfly.

A bright, radiant young girl with beautiful golden locks of hair letting itself loose in the Mercy of the wind. She came from a place far away from here. All the way from the United Kingdom, right on the other side of the globe. Her mother, Mrs. Moon Butterfly was a physician. Her father, Mr. River Butterfly, a car mechanic. The family decided to move here to the States when Star was just a little girl.

"It's so nice to meet you all," the girl waved her hands as she stood in front of the class. "I'm really excited to get to know everyone here."

"Alright, go ahead and take a seat next to safe kid over there," said the teacher.

"Don't mind if I do," Star smiled, and danced her way towards the young boy in awe of her mesmerizing radiance.

It was difficult to take his eyes off her. But when their gazes met one another, he quickly turned his head, hiding the blush rising from his face. Her brilliant sky-blue eyes locking with his own chestnut colored pair. It was electrifying.

"Hello there," Star beamed brightly at the boy.

He was mildly confused, turning his head left and right to see if she was waving at someone else.

"Me?" He blurted out. "You're talking to me?"

"Yeah, you silly," the girl giggled, before extending her hand. "Hi, I'm Star. What's your name?"

"Um… yeah… hi," the boy shook her hand, "I'm Marco."

"Nice to meet you, Marco. Let us be good friends from here on out, okay?"

"Yes… yeah," he blushed just as she smiled. "It would be an honor, ahem… to be friends with someone as pretty as you. Um… wait, no, no, that's not what I mean. You're not pretty. NO! What I meant to say is… it would be my honor to be… friends with someone of your particular… presentation… not to say you're not pretty, you are very pretty, just… no, what I meant to say is… oh, why is this happening? This wasn't part of the plan!"

Star gleefully giggled at the flustered boy.

"You're cute," she said.

It just made things worse from where he sat, as his face was now nothing but crimson red and steam furiously exhaling out of his own skin. The boy was out of his comfort zone, out of safety, because none of this was in the plan.

"Quiet down in the back there," Ms. Skullnick shouted. "You can socialize after we're done with class, Mr. Diaz. But right now, you better pay attention or so help me!"

"Sorry, ma'am," Marco stood up, even more flustered now as the whole class was looking on and chuckling in their seats, watching him shout out, "it won't happen again."

All his classmates laughed on and on and on. Including the new girl Star. Her laugh, her smile, they were so innocent, so pure. Like a young immortal butterfly flapping its wings for the first time, finally feeling the flow of eternity.

Marco looked at this beautiful butterfly, and he smiled.

"Yeah… won't happen again."


	2. Go With Me?

The school bell rang, thus the period had ended. Marco began to wonder what the next class was going to be. He cursed himself for leaving the timetable in his locker. He thought he didn't need it, under normal circumstances he could've memorized it fairly quick. But lately he had been rather distracted.

"Hey Marco," Star snuck up from behind him, glowing with glee.

"Ah, Star! You startled me."

"I know," she smiled. "Just came out of Math class, right?"

"Um… yeah, pretty interesting lesson. Ms. Skullnick actually brought up String Theory, for whatever weird reason. It's actually really cool. I should tell you about it sometimes."

"You know I love hearing you talk about the math."

"You rarely ever pay attention to any of the lessons," Marco smirked.

"Well… scratch that, I just like hearing you talk."

Marco blushed at the sight of her smile. Prompting him to pull up his hoodie and turn his face away.

"So the school dance is coming up," said Star as she skipped along the hallway. "I've been talking a bunch with my girls and we were thinking of coming in this year with style. Last year was good, but I feel we could do way better. Lily told us she wanted to rent a limousine. Can you imagine? That'll be something now, wouldn't it?"

"Um, actually, about the dance," Marco cleared his throat. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah… ahem…"

"Lay it on me buddy."

"I was thinking…" Marco's face continued to get redder as he glanced at Star's shimmering eyes, he tried to avert his gaze, but quickly shook his head, continuing to push on, "I was thinking… maybe… that maybe, we could… you know."

"Yeah?"

"That you and I… we could, you know… maybe go together to the dance?"

Star began to chuckle, in that brief instant, her laugh nearly dropped his heart into pieces.

"Well, duh. We're friends, Marco. Of course we'll go together. The more the merrier right? Janna's choice of music in the car last year was terrible I tell you. And Lily wouldn't get off her phone halfway through the night. So I'm definitely going to need my guy here with me."

"No, Star… um," said Marco. "What I'm trying to say is… ahem… I was thinking maybe we could… go together… just the two of us… to the dance… alone…"

"Oh…"

"Oh no," Marco gasped, "I made things weird. Why did I make things weird? No, no, no, I shouldn't have said that. Things are totally going to be awkward and different between us now, and she's going to hate you, and she's going to stop being friends with you and… and…"

"Marco, Marco," Star interrupted him, holding his shoulders, looking him in the eyes. With her cheeks getting warmer herself. "I… would… love to go with you to the dance actually."

"Really?" The boy's eyes lit up.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I think it could be fun."

"Great… great, I mean…" Marco cleared his throat, "Um… yeah… so…"

"So…"

"So… cool…"

"Cool…"

"I guess I'll see you around," said Marco, grabbing his books from his locker, "good talk, good talk. Got English coming up next. So be seeing you."

"Um, Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"We've got the same class silly," Star giggled.

"Oh…"


	3. Make Him the Cutest that I've Ever Seen

"Where did I… MOM!" Marco called out from his room, "Did you see where I put my comb? I could've sworn I left it here on my desk."

"Try looking in the drawer, honey," Angie yelled from the stairs, "your father may have borrowed it."

"Oh gosh, oh gosh," cried Marco. "Gotta hurry, can't be late. Where is my tie? Where is it? I know I left it in here somewhere. Wait a minute, where's my jacket? It was right here just a minute ago! Where… where… where…"

"Marco? Honey," his mother peaked into his room, "you doing alright here? You know you have another whole hour until the dance, right? And Star lives right next door, so you don't have to…"

"Of course I have to, mom!" He cried, desperately digging through the mountain of clothes all over his room. "Do you know how much stuff could be done within an hour? Like at the very least – a lot. A LOT I tell you."

"Chillax, bro-bro," Mariposa stood by the door, munching on a bag of chips. "You stress out too much your forehead wrinkles are going to show."

"I don't have forehead wrinkles!" Cried Marco. "At least I don't think… do I have forehead wrinkles? That shouldn't be physically possible!"

"I can see sweat traveling right down those lines, bro. I better take a picture of this, it's going to be so hilarious."

"Hush now, Mariposa," said Angie, "stop teasing your brother like that. You know it's a very big day for him."

"Your mother is right," Rafael popped up from behind. "Today is a very big day… for me as well. Oh, my son is becoming a man. They grow up so fast. I am just… so proud."

"Not helping," said Marco.

His thoughts were, however, cut off by the ringing of the bell. From the window they could see the Butterflys pull up by the sidewalk in front of the house with their brand-new car.

"Oh no!" Marco cried, "She's here! She's here! I'm not ready, I'm not…"

Mariposa cut the panicking boy off with several slaps to his face, grabbing him by the collar.

"Pull yourself together man! You and Star have been friends for YEARS. And tonight is your night. Are you going to let a little panic attack get in the way of a lifetime of happiness?"

"Um… no?"

"Say it like you mean it, brother! Let the Marimania run wild!"

"No," Marco shook his head, finally snapping out of it, "no, NO! You're right. You're absolutely right. Thank you, Mariposa. Tonight is the night, and I'm not about to let anything get in my way, not even if a planet falls out of the sky."

"YEAH, that's the spirit!" Mariposa shouted.

"Indoor voice, little sister," said Marco. "We need to get you off those wrestling shows on TV."

"I can't help it," smiled Mariposa. "Tonight I'm going to book my brother real strong."

"Right… how about you start by helping me find my jacket?"


	4. The Dance

Marco took a whole good long while to step back and admire Star's radiant appearance for the night. Her usual long hair now tied up to a neat ponytail, with a lovely diamond hairpin securing it in place. Her dress, a seemingly traditional short pink cocktail dress with knee length skirt and straps over the shoulders.

But with a closer look, Marco began to see extra layers of silky frills woven expertly into various beautiful complex patterns laying on top, with a touch of smooth crimson color to spice things up, reminding him of the colors of the Blood Moon.

She smiled, beaming with light, and that warmth lit him up to a paradise he never thought he could reach in his lifetime.

"You look… beautiful."

"Thank you," Star smiled, twirling her hair as she hid her blush, "you look very dapper yourself. Look at you, getting all fancy with shoulder pieces, too."

"You like it? Apparently they call it epaulets, I had to look it up you see. It's traditionally used as an insignia for an officer's rank or status and all that, even worn by some royalties sometimes and in some ceremonies, too. I just… thought it looked cool, you know? Maybe I shouldn't have worn it tonight, you're so beautiful and I'm here just weird."

"Oh Marco," Star smiled, "you dork."

"Ah yes, yes," River guffawed as he got in between the two of them, holding them tight in his arms. "We all look lovely tonight, yes, yes, just absolutely magnificent I say."

River pulled Marco in close, and whispered in his ear:

"You bring our precious pumpkin back by ten or you're going to get it, Marco my boy. You got that?"

The boy gulped:

"Get… what?"

"IT!"

"Alright, enough prattling around everyone," Moon said, getting everyone's attention. "Come on, come on, let's get you two in for a quick little photo. Just a little something to commemorate the evening."

"Good idea, Moon-pie."

"Come, come, everybody gather around."

"This is going in the album for sure."

"Scooch over a little bit, will ya?"

"Now, now. Let's get the happy couple in the center right here."

"Alright, look straight into the camera now, don't blink yeah? Everyone, say corn."

"_Corn__!"_


End file.
